1. Field of the Invention
The invention disclosed and claimed herein generally pertains to a method for furnishing travel directions over a network such as the Internet, wherein the directions are accompanied or supplemented by annotations from prior recipients of the directions. More particularly, the invention pertains to a method of above type wherein a person requesting directions, after using them, is able to send pertinent annotations to a central repository. Even more particularly, the invention pertains to a method of the above type wherein the requestor is able to participate in establishing rules pertaining to annotations that are stored in and retrieved from the central repository.
2. Description of the Related Art
At present, a number of Internet sources are available that provide directions for use in locating or traveling to a specified destination. These sources, such as a source accessible at mapquest.com, typically provide directions in textual form, or in graphic form such as maps or the like. However, directions from these sources may sometimes be inaccurate, due to road construction after the directions were created, recent changes in road signs, or for other reasons. As a result, a user following the directions could easily become confused or lost, and waste time in trying to reach an intended destination. Moreover, the user could inadvertently end up in an unsafe environment, or could become significantly accident prone in driving around unfamiliar areas without accurate guidance.
The Internet currently offers services that allow users of certain types of products to send annotations, such as ratings or comments regarding the products, to a central database or repository. This is done, for example, in connection with certain movie services. After receiving and viewing a movie from the service, ratings indicating a user's opinion of the movie, as well as the user's over-all satisfaction with the service, can be sent to a service website. The website can then be accessed by other persons interested in the movie, who want to know how it was rated by others. Capabilities of this type, however, are generally not available in connection with services that provide travel directions. Moreover, such services typically do not allow users to dynamically access directions based on rules or search criteria.
It would be beneficial to enable users of a travel direction service to submit annotations, in regard to directions they receive, to a central database or repository at an Internet website. Such annotations could include ratings of the accuracy of the received directions, and could further include suggestions for correcting observed errors. Annotations could be submitted, for example, in the form of text or as voice recordings. Submitted annotations regarding a particular destination could then be accessed later, by others who were interested in the destination. It would also be desirable to allow a user of the repository to participate in establishing rules regarding his or her use of annotations in the repository.